Gillman Classic Championships

November 5, 2018 by Gillman Media

A very good crowd saw another entertaining Classic meeting at Gillman Speedway on Saturday night when the annual Gillman Speedway Classic Solo and Sidecar Championships were held.

As seems to be the way with the Classic meeting, things started quite sedately, but once the riders got the feel of being back on track again, especially under racing conditions, there was some close and exciting racing.

The riders all had three heat rides each before the championships were decided by finals for the top four pointscorers, and the first of the finals was the Two Valve Solo Championship for riders aged 40 and over, and defending champion Kevin Webb had no trouble winning from Darryl Christopher, Barry Kennington and Martin Williams. Webb and Kennington were the top scorers in the heats, with 8 points each, with Christopher on 7. Webb dropped his only point to Kennington, while Kennington, in turn, was beaten by Christopher after earlier beating Christopher after they were wheel to wheel for most of their first race. This class has three of the oldest riders in classic racing in Kennington, Jim Phillips and Trevor Henderson, all in their 70s, and unfortunately Phillips had a heavy fall in his second ride when he flipped at the tapes and landed heavily on his back. Fortunately, however, the 1965 WA Champion was only bruised and sore, and says he will be back (from WA) next year.

Five-time Australian Champion Dennis Nash, riding the recently restored ex-Red Skelton/Roberta Scarey Vincent, which he rescued from a chook shed in 1985, was a runaway winner in the British/European/American Sidecar class. Rob Kemp/Steve Lewis, first on a Vincent, and then on an 8/80 JAP, and Shane Rudloff/Scott Morris, on Geoff Baran’s Norton, had some good dices in the heats, well ahead of Nash and Dennis Mortimer, and looked set to fight out the final, but Nash was away and gone, winning quite easily. Some suggested he had been foxing in the heats, but it was down to a change of passenger. After decades out of the saddle, Dennis Mortimer was having trouble both getting down on the side of the bike, and up again, and Nash rode with young Jaron Silvy on board in the final and raced away for an easy win from Rudloff and Kemp. He was also helped by a bad start by Kemp although Kemp said at the presentations he wasn’t sure if he would have been able to catch him anyway.

Current-day riders Brayden McGuinness, Arlo Bugeja, Seth Hickey and Blake Ridley gave Jeff Fisher’s stable of Jawas a serious workout in the 2 Valve Solo Championship for riders aged under 40, and the final was looming as a thriller between McGuinness and Bugeja, after McGuinness won the first two heats and Bugeja won the third, but there was an anti-climax when McGuinness had a bike problem coming out of the pits for the final. He was able to ride a backup bike but had exceeded the two-minute time allowance and had to start from a 15 metre handicap which made things relatively easy for Bugeja who won from Hickey, McGuinness and Ridley.

The Japanese Sidecar Championship saw the first clean-sweep of the night with Steven Lewis/Shane Rudloff going through the card unbeaten, although not without a serious challenge from Wayne Lethbridge/Grantley Simounds in the final. Lethbridge tried all race to pass Lewis but just couldn’t manage it. Lewis is not an easy rider to pass as he’s a talented rider at this level, with a long career as a motorcyclist dating back to 1971 when he, along with a handful of others including David Parker and Kym McConnell, were among the first ever junior scramble riders in Australia, under the tutelage of his father Milton. Chris Wakefield/Dale Cox and Sean Chapman/Matthew Ambrose were not far behind the leaders in third and fourth after what was a good race.

The 4 Valve Upright Solo Championship had a good line-up and looked to be the hardest class to pick but it started on a bad note when Scott James was injured in the first heat. James was a top-level rider as a teenager before several knee injuries curtailed his career. Since then he has concentrated on engine tuning instead of riding and probably wishes today that he stuck with that. Making his first appearance in the classic meeting he failed to see out the first lap after early leader Robert Ksiezak fell between turns three and four and James clipped his bike and was thrown heavily onto the track. After a lengthy delay he was off to hospital with a broken shoulder and ribs. When racing resumed there was some close racing in the heats, particularly between Ksiezak and Steve Graetz but in the final Graetz got the jump and was able to lead all the way from Ksiezak with Darrell Branford getting the better of Gary Fischer for third place.

The Post Classic Sidecar class was a disappointment, although that being said, Chris Fraser/Cec Fraser and Shane Rudloff/Scott Morris put on a couple of the best races of the night, but sadly that was it. They started off with only four bikes and defending champions Kym McConnell/Shane Edwards (bike problem) and former Australian Champion Clarry Jones (hip problem) and passenger Michael Bell were out after the first heat. After a wheel to wheel race between Fraser and Rudloff in heat two, the two bike final still looked wide open but Rudloff ran off the track on the back straight on lap one. He came back on in turn four and they had a good race, exchanging the lead, but, of course, Rudloff had already been excluded.

In the last final, Victorians Paul Donnelly/Jake Roberts were a class above the others in the Evolution Sidecar Championship. They shot out of the gate in every race and had no trouble retaining the championship they won for the first time last year. There was a close finish for second in the final however, with Wayne Lethbridge/Grantley Simounds just hanging in after a last second race to the line with Brian Silvy/Aaron Silvy. Paul Snadden, who holds a unique place in speedway history as the first ever Australian Under 16 Solo Champion, and passenger Peter Engels, finished fourth in their first classic appearance.

The meeting also had some demonstration events by the Three Quarter Midgets (TQs), reviving memories of their hey-day at Rowley Park and a host of country tracks in the 1960s.

The opening summer meeting is in a fortnight on Saturday night, 17 November, featuring local, interstate and overseas Solo riders.